KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — University of Tennessee junior forward Rennia Davis has been named this season’s 16th and final U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women’s National Player of the Week.
The award follows Davis previously being named the SEC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week and the College Sports Madness SEC Player of the Week. This marks the first time Davis has been honored by the USBWA.
The newly-announced 2020 All-SEC First Team selection put together back-to-back double-double efforts last week to help the Lady Vols close out the regular season with three consecutive wins and record the program’s 43rd 20-win season in the past 44 years. The 20-9 overall record and 10-6 conference mark significantly improve the Lady Vols’ chances of receiving a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 39th consecutive time.
The 6-foot-2 standout averaged 20.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in wins over Ole Miss and Auburn that helped UT forge a tie for third in the SEC standings after being picked to finish sixth by the media and seventh by the coaches. Davis shot 48.4 percent from the field (15-31), 33.3 percent from long range (2-6) and 81.8 from the free-throw line (9-11) en route to recording her 10th and 11th double-doubles of the season and her sixth 20+ point effort of the campaign. She now has scored in double figures in 26 straight games and has done so in 40 of her last 41 contests.
Davis was Tennessee’s only player in double figures in the regular season finale at Auburn on Sunday, connecting on nine of 18 shots and three of four attempts at the charity stripe to finish with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three assists. She also was instrumental in a defensive effort that limited Auburn to 55 points just one game after the Tigers had scored 95 on the road at Missouri. She also helped the Lady Vols restrict AU double-double career leader Unique Thompson to six points and five rebounds on the afternoon.
Against Ole Miss last Thursday, Davis was good for 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists as UT improved to 13-3 at home in 2019-20. The effort was one of 20 this season when the Jacksonville, Fla., native has paced UT in scoring and one of 13 as the team’s leading rebounder.
Davis and her teammates depart for Greenville, S.C., on Tuesday night and play in the SEC Tournament’s second round on Thursday at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET. UT, which received the No. 6 seed after the third-place tie was broken, will meet the winner of Wednesday’s tilt between No. 11 seed Missouri and No. 14 Ole Miss.
-UT Athletics
